Presidency 2015: Governors threaten  North’s  ambition

Northern governors appear to be constituting a stumbling  block to the realization of the North’s plan to produce the nation’s next president in 2015,according to indications yesterday.

Whereas,notable Northern leaders have launched an aggressive move to ensure the return of the presidency to that part of the country in 2015,their  governors are not showing sufficient interest  in or commitment to the  initiative of the elders.

The Nation   gathered that the Northern leaders’ efforts to enlist the support of the governors  and other political office holders from the North east,North central and North west for the region’s bid for the presidency has met with little or no success.

Leaders of the region, under the auspice of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and other groups, have declared their determination to wrestle the presidency from President Goodluck Jonathan by presenting a formidable candidate to challenge him during the 2015 general election.

According to sources,the governors hardly show up at strategic sessions called to discuss preparations for the  presidential race.

“Perhaps out of respect for President  Jonathan and the party (PDP), most governors of the North have avoided being identified with our quest for the presidency. The implication of this is that people are saying they are not part of the demand for a president of northern extraction,” an ACF source  said .

Some of the governors who are widely suspected of nursing ambition of contesting the election are even reluctant to talk about it openly.

Consequent upon this development,the brains behind the North for  the  2015 presidency  resolved to set up a committee to address the issue of where the governors stand on the matter.

The  committee, made up of prominent Northerners, was mandated to meet with the Governors with a view to urging them to be more supportive of the  project.

Said one source:”It was alleged that given the lack of open support for the agitation on the part of the governors, they cannot be counted upon to contribute towards the realisation of the agenda,hence the need to meet and curry their support.”

The committee, it was learnt, has  already met with Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, who is the chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State ,both of whom are believed to be interest in the race.

The forum had,last  May through Aliyu, said the region would form a formidable force despite their different political leanings and go into the 2015 presidential election with a united front.

An associate of Governor Umar Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa state who is also a member of the ACF security committee, confirmed the existence and activities of the contact committee.

According to the source the committee has met and convinced some of the governors on the need to be active  in the project.

“That is why we are saying many of them will soon be coming out to be counted. They have been told in clear terms what the wishes of the people are. They are now expected to put aside party affiliations and come together with us to actualize the quest,” he said.

Contacted, the Speaker of the Jigawa House of Assembly,Alhaji  Adamu Ahmad Sarawa, confirmed that Northern leaders in their commitment to the region’s quest for the presidency, are talking to all those who should be involved in the race.

According to him, there much  pressure  is being put on Governor Sule Lamido to openly declare his interest in the presidency in line with the agitation of Northerners.

The Speaker said this was why it became necessary for the  State Hosue of Assembly to announce its full support  for Governor  Lamido to contest the  presidential election.

“We had to speak up considering the pressure on Lamido from all parts of the country to run. We had to let him know he has the support of the people whom we represent,” he said.

The  National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Anthony Sani, would neither  confirm nor deny the said committee’s work, he re-echoed the region’s commitment to the 2015 presidency.

2015  is still far ,he said and the ACF will  not want to distract governance.

It will however  welcome any strategy that will put the region in a vantage position to enable it to negotiate with other sections of the country ahead of the 2015 race.

Sources said the committee, which is billed to report back to the leaders at a meeting scheduled for next  month  has requested a formal meeting with the leadership of the Governors’ Forum aside from its effort to reach the governors individually and obtain their commitment to the region’s presidential pursuit.